Consensus 2019 kicked off today. Some of the highlights from day one...
THE STATE OF BLOCKCHAIN: Tetras Capital founder (and former CoinDesk research anaylst) Alex Sunnarborg took to the Consensus stage Monday morning to deliver the latest State of Blockchain findings.
Among the data points he shared:
-- Nearly 50 percent of all bitcoin transactions are using Segregated Witness, the protocol upgrade that went live on the network in 2017.
-- Bitcoin fees are roughly $1 on average, a steep decline compared to rates seen during the height of the crypto market last year.
-- On the decentralized finance front, MakerDAO continues to reign supreme, with roughly 2 percent of all ETH locked up in that system.
-- Institutions (Ivy League endowments, pension funds) have entered the market; some 22% already have some exposure to digital assets, and 40% are open to future investments in digital assets.
-- One of the biggest upcoming events in crypto is the forthcoming bitcoin subsidy halving (the block reward will fall from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC). As Sunnarborg noted, 7/8 of all BTC that will ever be mined will be mined by the next halving.
MICROSOFT + BITCOIN (AND DECENTRALIZED IDENTITY): Microsoft is launching the first decentralized infrastructure implementation by a major tech company that is built directly on the bitcoin blockchain.
The open source project, called Ion, deals with the underlying mechanics of how networks talk to each other.
For example, if you log onto Airbnb using Facebook, a protocol deals with the software that sends the personal information from your social profile to that external service provider. In this case, Ion handles the decentralized identifiers, which control the ability to prove you own the keys to this data.
An interesting wrinkle in the story: an anonymous source told CoinDesk that although Facebook has been invited to participate in Microsoft’s DID projects and community efforts, so far the social media company has declined and instead continued to follow its historic approach to user data.
Read reporter Leigh Cuen's story at CoinDesk.com.
TREASURY OFFICIAL TALKS AML: It wouldn't be a crypto event without some input from government officials (keep an eye out for Monday's later appearance by SEC commissioner Hester Peirce.)
This morning, we heard from Sigal P. Mandelker, Under Secretary for the Treasury Department's Terrorism and Financial Intelligence unit.
The big takeaway: don't skimp on anti-money laundering efforts. And according to Mandelker, the crypto space can expect forthcoming FATF guidance as early as June.
Mandelker also brought some data to share, including the fact that since 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has received more than 47,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) mentioning bitcoin or virtual currency. Half of these filed by virtual currency exchangers or administrators themselves.
"I hope you understand how much we value your role in protecting national security and your industry ... [we] urge industry to prioritize compliance before choosing to bring product or service to market," Mandelker said at the close.
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BITCOIN BUMP: Bitcoin’s price recovered quickly from its pull back below $6,800 yesterday by surging roughly $1000 from today’s open to reach its highest price since July 31 of last year.
The cryptocurrency’s continued rally contradicts overbought readings presented by technical indicators, likely due to the fact that bitcoin's price has found itself in a parabolic trend.
In the near term, acceptance below previous intraday resistance of $7,530 will open the door for a drop to previous support of $6,755, whereas bulls next known resistance is not until $8,482.
-- Sam Ouimet |
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